Three Goblin Art
he wasn't even looking at me and he found me
blake kathryn
$LAYYYTER
todays bird
Alisa U Zemlji Chuda
Not today Justin
Mike Driver
Kaledo Art
ojovivo
PUT YOUR BEARD IN MY MOUTH
Stranger Things
trying on a metaphor
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Xuebing Du
pixel skylines
Product Placement
@theartofmadeline
taylor price
seen from Venezuela
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@catapultpodcast
~hiatus~
I realized that while I mentioned this on the show and on twitter, I failed to actually put it here, on the dang website: As of (after) Episode 53, The Catapult is on indefinite hiatus. Will we come back? Maybe. Will this website and the 53+ prior episodes be available until the end of time? Absolutely.
In the meanwhile, you can always email me at [email protected]. Thank you/you’re wonderful/go read a book.
Love, Jaime
Episode 53: Marian Bull & Anthony Michael Morena
Today we have beautiful specimens of the two best kinds of writing: food writing and science writing. That’s not a biased opinion, it’s the factual, absolute truth. Marian Bull reads her essay, “In the Morning Kitchen,” about biscuits and friendliness in North Carolina, and Anthony Michael Morena reads from his book, The Voyager Record: A Transmission, which is amazing and beautiful and comes out in May.
Download this episode from iTunes, subscribe on iTunes, or listen right here:
Also: this will be the last episode of The Catapult, at least for an indefinite while. Call it retirement, cryogenic freezing, or the end of volume one. No promises—I really don’t know—but keep a candle lit for us in the form of your subscription in iTunes or your podcasting app. Keep in touch on twitter: @catapultpodcast or @jaimealyse.
If you’d like to read more
by Marian:
"Highly Recommended: Erotic Photo Hunt” (Eater)
“Irregularities: What It Means to Find Your Bar” (Brooklyn Magazine)
“Mess Hall” (TinyLetter)
by Anthony:
Six poems from The Voyager Record (The Normal School)
“Neanderthal Campsite & Life During the Ice Age” (The Ilanot Review)
“ARG” (Flapperhouse)
About the writers:
Marian Bull is a writer, editor, and amateur cook living in Brooklyn. Her writing has appeared in Lucky Peach, Saveur, Cherry Bombe, Bon Appetit, Cosmo, The New Republic, and Eater, among others. Twitter: @marianbull
Anthony Michael Morena is a writer from New York who lives in Tel Aviv. In 2015 he received his MA in creative writing from Bar-Ilan University. His poetry and prose have appeared or will soon in The Normal School, Ninth Letter, Flapperhouse, and Queen Mob’s Tea House. He has also been a guest editor for The Ilanot Review and a regular reader for Gigantic Sequins, a good-looking, biannual, black & white literary arts journal. The Voyager Record: A Transmission (Rose Metal Press 2016) is his first book. anthonymichaelmorena.com / @anphimimor
Thank you. I love you. See you soon.
-Jaime
Jaime Green on the craft and entertainment value of live literary readings.
I wrote about why I love readings and what I’ve learned from them.
Episode 52: Zoe Rana Mungin & Lucas Mann
Today, two young narrators try to make sense of their present and their past, with New York City as the setting, the world, or one more haunting ghost. Zoe Rana Mungin reads her short story, “never get married,” and Lucas Mann reads from his memoir, Lord Fear, which is out in paperback now.
Download this episode from iTunes, subscribe on iTunes, or listen right here:
As always, if you’d leave a rating & review in iTunes, all your future hauntings will be positive, at least growth experience.
If you’d like to read more
by Zoe:
"Love, from Mexico” (Quarterly West)
“Ya Tú Sabes: Being Boricua and Morena“ (black youth project)
“never get married” (Route Nine)
by Lucas:
"How I Stole My Brother’s Death And My Father’s Grief” (BuzzFeed Books)
“Percy” (TriQuarterly)
“On Writing Young” (Essay Daily)
About the writers:
Zoe Rana Mungin was born and raised East New York, part of Brooklyn where gentrifiers have only just begun to explore. She’s a graduate of Wellesley College, and currently writes and teaches in Newark, New Jersey where she attempts to explain the importance of semicolons to future engineers. She watches a lot of hockey. She’s working on a project that explores the intersection of colored girls and Sailor Moon. Twitter: @zoemungin
Lucas Mann is the author of Class A: Baseball in the Middle of Everywhere, a Barnes and Noble Discover Great New Writers selection, and Lord Fear: A Memoir (now available in paperback), which was named one of the best books of 2015 by The Miami Herald, Kirkus Reviews, and Oprah.com. His essays have appeared in Slate, BuzzFeed, TriQuarterly, VICE, Barrelhouse, and The Kenyon Review, among others. He earned his MFA from The University of Iowa, where he was the Provost's Visiting Writer in Nonfiction, and now teaches creative writing at The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. lucasmann.com
Episode 51: Litmag special with Ari Baum-Hommes, Tania Nwachukwu, & Corinne Manning
Today we bring you readings from three excellent independent literary magazines: NOÖ, Synaesthesia, and Moss, with short prose from Ari Baum-Hommes, a poem from Tania Nwachukwu, and an excerpt from a short story from Corinne Manning. (Read the rest of that story here.)
Download this episode from iTunes, subscribe on iTunes, or listen right here:
As always, if you’d leave a rating & review in iTunes, your life will be, litmag-like, full of diverse writing with a coherent point of view, interspersed with provocative moments of visual art.
About the writers:
Ari Baum-Hommes is originally from the mystical land of Western Massachusetts. Her fiction has appeared in Two Serious Ladies and Right Hand Pointing. She lives in Minneapolis now, near many, many lakes. twitter: @going_homes
Tania Nwachukwu is a Nigerian writer born and raised in London. She is a member of the Barbican Young Poets collective. Her work has been published in various publications, and performed to audiences across the UK and Nigeria. When she’s not writing, she’s on Skyscanner plotting her next escape. TaniaNwachukwu.Tumblr.com
Corinne Manning is the founding editor of The James Franco Review, an online journal dedicated to the visibility of underrepresented artists. Her writing has appeared in such publications as Story Quarterly, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, The Nervous Breakdown, The Oxford American, Arts & Letters, and Lit Hub, and as a chapbook through alice blue review's Shotgun Wedding Series. She co-runs The Furnace Reading Series in Seattle, teaches for Writers in the Schools, and is a 2016 Jack Straw Writers Fellow. http://corinnemanning.tumblr.com/
About the magazines:
NOÖ Journal is a free literary print/online journal distributed all over. We are invested in making inclusive and collaborative community in independent literature and art. We put out guest-edited issues called NOÖ Weeklies that in no way can be said to come out weekly.
Synaesthesia Magazine is an online literary and arts magazine, criss-crossing senses worldwide. The magazine aims to engage writers and artists in an exploration of the senses, publishing poetry, short stories, creative nonfiction, photography and artwork. We set a theme for each issue, and encourage a multi-sensory response to each theme.
Moss is a journal of Northwest writing, dedicated to bringing Northwest literature to new audiences and exposing the emerging voices of the region to new readers, critics, and publishers. Moss is a community-first project; every issue is made available online for free, we don't charge submission fees, and we pay every writer we publish. In January, we released our first print anthology, which is now available on our website and in select bookstores.
Episode 50: Lynn Steger Strong, Sasha Fletcher, & Kaitlyn Greenidge
On this episode: a mother tries to reach her daughter, a woman tries to make sense of a stranger, plus some extraordinary, exuberant poetry. Readings from the writers of three new books: Lynn Steger Strong (Hold Still), Sasha Fletcher (It Is Going To Be A Good Year), and Kaitlyn Greenidge (We Love You, Charlie Freeman).
Also discussed: The Tournament of Books!
Download this episode from iTunes, subscribe on iTunes, or listen right here:
As always, if you’d leave a rating & review in iTunes, your Tournament of Books bracket will be perfect.
If you’d like to read more
by Lynn:
“She” (Blunderbuss)
“My Husband Saved Us By Becoming a Stay at Home Dad“ (ELLE)
by Sasha:
“Something Wonderful” (Prelude)
Four Poems (Powder Keg)
“My Heart Is an Ice Floe and It Will Wreck You” (Big Lucks)
by Kaitlyn:
“Four Tales for Dry Land” (The Offing)
“Language is failing us” (Salon)
About the writers:
Lynn Steger Strong was born and raised in South Florida. She teaches at Pratt Institute, Columbia University, Sackett Street Writer's Workshop and Catapult and lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two young daughters. Hold Still is her first novel.
Sasha Fletcher is the author of it is going to be a good year (Big Lucks Books), several chapbooks of poetry, and an out of print novella.
Kaitlyn Greenidge was born in Boston. She received her MFA from Hunter College. Her work has appeared in The Believer, American Short Fiction, Guernica, Kweli Journal, The Feminist Wire, Afro Pop Magazine, Green Mountains Review and other places. Her debut novel, We Love You, Charlie Freeman was published by Algonquin in March 2016.
Episode 49: Kerry Cullen, A. Igoni Barrett, & Sara Majka
Three readings on the moments when our bodies and lives surprise us and betray us, in ways common and seemingly supernatural. Kerry Cullen reads her short story, "Unidentifiable," originally published by Monkeybicycle, A. Igoni Barrett reads from his novel, Blackass (on sale March 1) and Sara Majka reads an excerpt from her collection, Cities I've Never Lived In (on sale now).
This episode also marks two years of this podcast! If you’re in New York, come to Housing Works March 9th to celebrate!
Download this episode from iTunes, subscribe on iTunes, or listen right here:
As always, if you’d leave a rating & review in iTunes, sunset will keep getting later and later until you forget what winter even was.
If you’d like to read more
by Kerry:
“The Rat King” (Fwriction Review)
“Bloodline” (Blunderbuss)
“Tell Me What to Do” (Luna Luna)
by Igoni:
“Be Careless With Your Wishes” (Electric Literature)
“The Worst Thing That Happened” (Guernica)
“Interview: A. Igoni Barrett“ by Ted Hodgkinson (Granta)
by Sara:
“Travelers” (Catapult)
“Saint Andrews Hotel” (Electric Literature’s Recommended Reading)
“Sara Majka on Finding the Distance to Write a Story,” interview by Rebecca Worby (Electric Literature)
About the writers:
Kerry Cullen's work published or is forthcoming in The Indiana Review, Prairie Schooner, One Teen Story, Hobart, Monkeybicycle, and more. Kerry is an editorial assistant at Henry Holt & Co. and earned her MFA at Columbia University. She is represented by Sarah Burnes at The Gernert Company. She is currently writing a novel about sex, god, and Christian rock.
A. Igoni Barrett is the author of Blackass and Love Is Power, Or Something Like That, as well as a winner of the 2005 BBC World Service short story competition, and the recipient of a Chinua Achebe Center Fellowship, a Norman Mailer Center Fellowship, and a Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center Residency. His short stories have twice been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. He lives in Nigeria.
Sara Majka: When she was young, Sara Majka’s family moved along the New England coast, living in Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket, Cuttyhunk, Maine, and even for a time in a lighthouse. She received graduate degrees in writing from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst and Bennington College and was awarded a fiction fellowship at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown. She now lives in Queens with her young son. Cities I've Never Lived In is her first book out in February 2016 from Graywolf Press and A Public Space.
Episode 48: Tony Tulathimutte & Belinda McKeon
This isn’t Valentine’s Day, but it’s also not safe for work or children. What it is safe for is adults who love readings from great new novels! Tony Tulathimutte reads from Private Citizens, Belinda McKeon reads from Tender, and you have a wonderful half-hour or so.
Also discussed: Maris Kreizman’s “Unlove Me: I Found Love Because I Got Lucky, Not Because I Changed Myself“ and Alanna Massey’s “Why you're wrong to hate Valentine's Day: a short list of rebuttals.” And this steam mop.
Download this episode from iTunes, subscribe on iTunes, or listen right here:
If you’d like to read more
by Tony
"What Kind of Name Is That” (The Paris Review)
“Proposals Toward the End of Writing” (The Believer Logger)
“Chris Farley and the Weight of Comedy“ (Vice)
by Belinda
“The Art of Going the Distance” (LitHub)
“Me, myself and I in an age of autobiographical fiction“ (The Guardian)
“The joy of rediscovering teen magazines as a grown-up“ (The Pool)
About the writers:
Tony Tulathimutte is the author of the novel Private Citizens (William Morrow, 2016). A graduate of Stanford University and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, he has contributed to VICE, Salon, The New Yorker online, Threepenny Review, AGNI, The LA Review of Books, The American Reader, and other places. He has been selected for an O. Henry Award and a MacDowell Fellowship; his website is at tonytula.com.
Belinda McKeon, originally from Ireland and now based in Brooklyn, is the author of two novels, Solace, which won the 2012 Faber Prize and was named Irish Book of the Year, and Tender, which has just been published by Lee Boudreaux books and has been described as "a dead-on account of youthful obsession" by Christine Schutt in the New York Times. McKeon is also a playwright. She teaches at Rutgers University. belindamckeon.com
Episode 47: Translation special with KT Billey, Anna Rosenwong, & Gregory Pardlo
On this episode, poetry in translation and an essay on translation. But it’s also all about love, isolation, communication, and all the things words can and can’t do about that. KT Billey and Anna Rosenwong read their translations, and Gregory Pardlo reads his essay, “On Translation.”
Download this episode from iTunes, subscribe on iTunes, or listen right here:
As always, if you’d leave a rating & review in iTunes, then make a wish, could backwards from ten, and think of how you’ve just helped a podcast you love.
If you’d like to read more
by KT:
"Atlantic Crossing” (w/ interview) (Brooklyn Poets)
“Forest fire, supper time” (Blunderbuss)
“Collateral” (The Boiler)
by Anna:
"Il Tuo Giorno, La Notte, Il Nudo Spaggia” (Pool Poetry)
"I've got gold fever 120 degrees" by José Eugenio Sánchez (Center for the Art of Translation)
"1-02" by Victoria Guerrero (Words Without Borders)
by Gregory:
“Raisin” (w/ interview) (Brooklyn Poets)
“Written by Himself” (New York Times Magazine)
“Copenhagen, 1995″ (Muzzle Magazine)
About the writers:
K.T. Billey’s Vulgar Mechanics (seeking publication) was a finalist for the 2015 Pamet River Prize from YESYES books. Originally from rural Alberta, Canada, her poems have appeared in CutBank, The New Orleans Review, Prelude, Poor Claudia, and others, and her poem “Girl Gives Birth to Thunder” won Vallum’s 2015 Poetry Prize. Assistant Editor for Asymptote, she translates from Icelandic and Spanish and lives in New York City. See more at ktbilley.com.
Anna Rosenwong is an editor, translator, poet, and educator. Her publications include Rocío Cerón’s Diorama (winner of the 2015 Best Translated Book Award), José Eugenio Sánchez's Suite Prelude a/H1N1, Climax with Double Cheese, and a longer forthcoming volume, as well as an original collection of poetry, By Way of Explanation. She is the translation editor of Drunken Boat. Her literary and scholarly work has been featured in World Literature Today, The Kenyon Review, Translation Studies, The St Petersburg Review, Pool, and elsewhere. To read more, check out annarosenwong.com
Gregory Pardlo's collection Digest (Four Way Books) won the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. Digest was also shortlisted for the 2015 NAACP Image Award and was a finalist for the Hurston-Wright Legacy Award. His other honors include fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York Foundation for the Arts; his first collection Totem was selected by Brenda Hillman for the APR/Honickman Prize in 2007. Pardlo's poems appear in The Nation, Ploughshares, Tin House, The Norton Anthology of Contemporary African American Poetry, Best American Poetry, and elsewhere. Pardlo lives with his family in Brooklyn. pardlo.net
I think it's weird and cool and lovely to read a book in the writer's voice.
The Art of Commerce—Episode XLVIII: "They become more of a person, more of a presence"
I spoke with Andrew Lipstein about podcasts, readings, creative nonfiction, and what makes great readers great.
Episode 46: Cara Parks & Paul Lisicky
On this episode we’ve got two nonfiction readings, about the big things that change your life—marriage, love, sickness, death—and the small things that make it matter—a cake, a meal, a friend dancing in her kitchen. Okay, those things aren’t small... and that’s the whole point, isn’t it? Cara Parks reads her essay, "I Dropped the Wedding Cake, and Other Confessions From a Wedding Caterer,” and Paul Lisicky reads the opening of his new memoir, The Narrow Door (out January 19).
Also discussed: “The Yellow Wallpaper,” “No Man’s Land,” “The Trouble With Wilderness,” “Thirteen Ways of Seeing Nature in L.A.,” Running in the Family.
Download this episode from iTunes, subscribe on iTunes, or listen right here:
And as always, if you’d leave a rating & review in iTunes, that counts as two of your vegetable servings for the day.
If you’d like to read more
by Cara:
“Instill Life” (The New Republic)
“Herd Historian” (Washingtonian)
“The Original Southern Peanut Was Thought To Be Extinct, But One Farmer Is Bringing It Back“ (Modern Farmer)
by Paul:
“The New Rhoda” (The Offing)
“Biology” (Storyscape)
“On The Fugue, Alison Bechdel's Are You My Mother, DFW, and the Resistance to the One Thing“ (Essay Daily)
About the writers:
Cara Parks is a freelance editor and writer, as well as the Breakfast and Booze editor for Roads and Kingdoms. Previously, she was executive editor of Modern Farmer magazine, deputy managing editor of Foreign Policy, and the Huffington Post's World editor. She’s written for The New York Times, Slate, The New Republic, Aeon, Foreign Policy, and Roads and Kingdoms, among others. caraparks.net
Paul Lisicky is the author of five books: Lawnboy, Famous Builder, The Burning House, Unbuilt Projects, and The Narrow Door, forthcoming from Graywolf Press in January 2016. His work has appeared in Conjunctions, Denver Quarterly, Ecotone, Fence, The Offing, Ploughshares, Tin House, The Rumpus, Unstuck, and in many other magazines and anthologies. His awards include fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the James Michener/Copernicus Society, the Corporation of Yaddo, and the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, where he was twice a Fellow. He currently teaches in the MFA Program at Rutgers University-Camden, the low residency program at Sierra Nevada College, and at the Juniper Summer Writing Institute. He is the editor of StoryQuarterly and serves on the Writing Committee of the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown.
Episode 45: Helen Ellis & Michael Ian Black
This episode takes us through the many ages of man—man and girl and mothers. From a child beauty queen making a clean break to a middle-aged man reckoning with the fallibility of his mother’s body, and his own, this is a terrifying, hilarious, and, above all, corporeal episode. Helen Ellis reads a story from her collection, American Housewife, which comes out January 12, and Michael Ian Black reads the introduction to his new book, Navel Gazing, which is out now.
Download this episode from iTunes, subscribe on iTunes, or listen right here:
And as always, if you’d leave a rating & review in iTunes, your personal karma stores will be instantly replenished.
If you’d like more
by Helen:
“What I Do All Day” (MonkeyBicycle)
“Housekeeping!” (Lenny Letter)
by Michael:
You're Not Doing It Right: Tales of Marriage, Sex, Death, and Other Humiliations
listen to How to Be Amazing
About the writers:
Helen Ellis is the acclaimed author of Eating the Cheshire Cat. She is a poker player who competes on the national tournament circuit. Raised in Alabama, she lives with her husband in New York City. @WhatIDoAllDay
Michael Ian Black is an actor, comedian, and author who began his career with The State, a sketch comedy troupe he co-created in college, which went on to have a successful run on MTV. Michael then co-created the television shows Viva Variety, Stella, and Michael and Michael Have Issues. He starred in Wet Hot American Summer, as well as the new Netflix television series Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp. Michael has written several books, both for children and adults. He also is a popular podcaster, who hosts How To Be Amazing as well as Mike and Tom Eat Snacks with Tom Cavanagh and Topics with Michael Showalter. Michael regularly tours the country as a stand-up comedian, releasing two stand-up albums: I Am A Wonderful Man, and Very Famous. He lives in the wilds of Connecticut with his wife and two children. michaelianblack.com & @michaelianblack
Episode 44: Josh Fruhlinger & Josh Gondelman
Two Joshes for the price of one podcast today! With trains, taxis, stealth marketing, and the gentlest self-loathing thrown in for free. Josh Fruhlinger reads from his novel, The Enthusiast, and Josh Gondelman reads from his humor book (co-written with Joe Berkowitz), You Blew It!: An Awkward Look at the Many Ways in Which You've Already Ruined Your Life. Also mentioned in this episode: Slate’s “The Overlooked Books of 2015,” featuring Jaime on Margaret Lazarus Dean’s Leaving Orbit.
If you’re in or near LA, check out the launch party for The Enthusiast Dec 15.
Download this episode from iTunes, subscribe on iTunes or in your favorite podcatching app, or listen right here:
And as always, if you’d leave a rating & review in iTunes, that would be a lovely think for you to do!
If you’d like to read more
by Josh Fruhlinger:
“Popes Who Never Got to Be Saints” (The Toast)
“Cartoon Violence Down the Memory Hole” (Wonkette)
“Love and Other Conspiracies of ‘The X-Files’” (The Awl)
by Josh Gondelman:
“Works from the Los Angeles Museum of Photographic Self-Portraiture” (The New Yorker)
“I Had Given Up On The NFL. Then Nana Became A Patriots Fanatic.” (BuzzFeed)
“Outerspanx, Butt Lampshades, and Zoolandery Vibes: A Front-Row Virgin Reviews Chromat” (Elle)
About the writers:
In 2004, Josh Fruhlinger created The Comics Curmudgeon, a blog dedicated to analyzing and mocking newspaper comic strips. Against all expectations, this made him vaguely Internet famous, and he still updates it daily. His writing has appeared online at ITworld, Wonkette, The Awl, The Billfold, and The Toast; with Conor Lastowka, he created [Citation Needed], a blog and book series highlighting the best of Wikipedia’s worst writing. The Enthusiast is his first novel. He and his wife live in Los Angeles. joshreads.com
Josh Gondelman is a writer and comedian who incubated in Boston before moving to New York City. Along with Joe Berkowitz, Josh is the co-author of the recently released humor book You Blew It: An Award Guide To The Many Ways In Which You've Already Ruined Your Life. He's also a staff writer for Last Week Tonight with John Oliver on HBO. Plus he's the co-creator/co-author of the Modern Seinfeld parody Twitter account, along with Jack Moore. Bellow at Josh in all caps on Twitter @joshgondelman. Find his tour dates and buy his book from joshgondelman.com.
Looking for something to spice up your commute? Look no further! There are hundreds of bookish podcasts on iTunes and there’s something for everyone. Here are twenty-five of the best.
—BookRiot: 25 Outstanding Podcasts for Readers (by Kate Scott)
Episode 43: Kea Krause & Alex Mar
Sailboats, witches, fathers, beer, red wine, tequila, and supplications to the power of Death: new nonfiction from Kea Krause and Alex Mar. Kea reads a lightly condensed version of her essay, “Shelters and Storms,” which appeared (in full) at The Toast. Alex reads an excerpt from her book, Witches of America, which is out now. Also discussed: Meaghan O’Connell’s latest column for The Cut, “Parenthood Means Constantly Imagining Worst-Case Scenarios.”
Download this episode from iTunes, subscribe on iTunes or in your favorite podcatching app, or listen right here:
And as always, if you’d leave a rating & review in iTunes, that would be a lovely think for you to do!
If you’d like to read more
by Kea:
“How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Great White Shark” (Narratively)
“Hundreds of Mormons Reenacted the Book of Mormon in Upstate New York Last Week“ (VICE)
“Deep Secrets” (Columbia Journal online)
by Alex:
“Sky Burial: Excarnation in Texas” (Oxford American)
“Satan in Poughkeepsie” (The Believer)
“A Surprising Weekend Inside the Touchy-Feely World of Polyamory“ (Nerve)
About the writers:
Kea Krause is a writer from the Pacific Northwest living in New York. Her work has appeared on VICE, The Toast, Broadly, The Rumpus, Narratively and is forthcoming in The Believer. She holds an MFA in nonfiction from Columbia University where she taught an undergraduate creative writing workshop. You can find her online at keakrause.com and @KeaMKrause.
Alex Mar is a writer based in her hometown of New York City. Her work has recently appeared or is forthcoming in The Believer, The New York Times Book Review, Elle, Epic, The Virginia Quarterly Review, Tin House, Atlas Obscura, The Oxford American (where she is a contributing editor), and The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2015. She is also the director of the feature-length documentary American Mystic, currently streaming on Amazon. Witches of America is her first book.
Episode 42: Rahawa Haile & Lincoln Michel
Weird, whimsical, horrific, romantic—very short stories can make room for some of the strangest, most wonderful things. On today’s episode, Rahawa Haile and Lincoln Michel illuminate the mundane, the eccentric, and the extraordinary in six very short stories.
Lincoln’s collection Upright Beasts, is out now from Coffee House Press. Also mentioned in this episode: The Birthday of the World by Ursula K. Le Guin and Super Flat Times by Matthew Derby.
(Note: Due to a technical error (a hard drive falling on the floor) there is no outtro music on this episode. Please keep the hard drive in your thoughts and prayers so that there may be outtro music again on future episodes.)
Download this episode from iTunes, subscribe on iTunes or in your favorite podcatching app, or listen right here:
And as always, if you’d leave a rating & review in iTunes, that really helps the show grow.
If you’d like to read more
by Rahawa:
“A Low and Distant Paradise” (Pacific Standard)
“One Short Story, Every Day” (interview @ The Oyster Review)
“The Lives and Loves of Intricate Cakes” and “When The Seltzer’s Like ‘Nah’ and You’re Like ‘Oh Please, Please Be Cold’ and the Seltzer’s Like ‘Nah’” (Midnight Breakfast)
by Lincoln:
“The Room Inside My Father’s Room” (Catapult)
“My Life in the Bellies of Beasts” (VICE)
“Dark Air” (Granta)
About the writers:
Rahawa Haile is an Eritrean-American writer of short stories and essays. Find her on Twitter at @RahawaHaile.
Lincoln Michel is the editor-in-chief of electricliterature.com and a founding editor of Gigantic. His work has appeared in Granta, Oxford American, Unstuck, Tin House, Pushcart Prize anthology, and elsewhere. He is the co-editor of Gigantic Worlds, an anthology of science flash fiction, and the author of Upright Beasts, a collection of short stories on Coffee House Press. He was born in Virginia and lives in Brooklyn. You can find him online at lincolnmichel.com and @thelincoln.
Episode 41: Vivian Lee, Myles Tanzer, & Miranda Popkey
Today we have three essays about books and the ways they influence our lives, reflect our lives back at us, and resonate with our own stories. Vivian Lee on karaoke and Turn Around Bright Eyes, Myles Tanzer on subway survival and Sex and the City, and Miranda Popkey on escape and The Diver’s Clothes Lie Empty. These essays were all published by The Oyster Review, a too-beautiful-to-live home for wide-ranging writing about books. The Oyster Review has gone into the sunset, but long live wide-ranging writing about books.
Other Oyster Review essays mentioned in this episode:
Gabriel Roth on Phillip Roth
Choire Sicha on Ursula K. Le Guin
Jaime Green on Choire Sicha’s Very Recent History
Download this episode from iTunes, subscribe on iTunes or in your favorite podcatching app, or listen right here:
And as always, if you’d leave a rating & review in iTunes, that really helps the show grow.
If you’d like to read more
by Vivian:
Here is a song (Vivian’s Tinyletter)
“Dating, By the Book” (The Oyster Review)
by Myles:
"The Minds Behind Apple Music Explain How What A Time To Be Alive Became A Global Moment” (The FADER)
“’We Belong Together’ Turns 10! Mariah Carey, Jermaine Dupri, and L.A. Reid on Making the Smash Hit“ (Vogue)
“Exclusive: New York Times Internal Report Painted Dire Digital Picture“ (BuzzFeed)
by Miranda:
“Elena Ferrante’s Unruly Bodies” (The New Republic)
“Why Do Adult Women Love One Direction Slash Fanfiction?“ (Broadly)
“The Untrustworthy Reader” (The New Inquiry)
About the writers:
Vivian Lee is an editor in publishing and (occasionally) a writer based in New York City. You can find her on Twitter or bi-monthly on hernewsletter.
Myles Tanzer is an editor and reporter living in Ridgewood, Queens. He's currently the news editor of The FADER and has written for places such as BuzzFeed, Vogue, and New York Magazine. He's originally from Staten Island and loves pizza. @mylestanzer
Miranda Popkey is the assistant to the editor at Harper's Magazine. @mmpopkey
